If I can keep my head above the tide
by missMHO
Summary: /AQUABAT - "Justice League" (2017)/ The world is saved and everything should go back to the way things were. Except, it really doesn't.


_So, "Justice League" happened. As I expected, I left the cinema shipping Arthur and Bruce, but to my despair I found next to zero content for them. So, as always when I enter a small fandom, I started creating some of my own. I hope you'll enjoy ^^"_

 **xxx**

It's almost peculiar to get back to chasing criminals all over Gotham rooftops after fighting literal monsters alongside metahumans, a goddess, and a resurrected alien. But the familiarity soon wins and the events of the past days seem almost like one of his many weird dreams.

The Joker-copycats gang he's after today is a wave of such familiarity, an unwelcome one but, nonetheless, something he's too accustomed to after twenty years of wearing the cowl. Their strength is in numbers and even though he's been on their tail for some time now, he's still not done with them. He would never admit it to anyone that he wishes he had back-up to wrap this up faster. He can see the copycats are getting desperate and that means they can do something really stupid.

He's in the Batmobile, chasing the last two vans that are still making a break for it. The drivers of these vehicles were more clever than the rest, using routes that allow them to go with good enough speed to still be on the run but also not completely abandoned so that Batman has restricted range of options in terms of stopping them because of the civilians present.

Then, they do something really stupid.

One of the vans swerves too violently on the bridge. The crash is massive. The last van manages to get away but Batman is no longer chasing them. His full attention is on the car with a family in it that was pushed off the bridge and into the unapologetic cold water under it.

He ejects the inflatable boat from the Batmobile so that it flies over the edge of the bridge before filling with air. Then he's out, running, the aqualung already in his hand and he's diving into the water. The hit with the surface disorients him for a second so he doesn't notice right away that there's a leak of air from the aqualung. The oxygen is escaping with a speed that makes the gadget useless and Bruce has a brief flashback to earlier this evening, when one of the copycats succeeded in throwing Batman off the roof and while he managed to stop the fall with the grappling hook, he hit the side of the building quite hard - the gadget must have got damaged then.

He lets the aqualung drown while he himself continues swimming towards the sinking car. He always takes a deep breath before diving - despite the aqualung - to buy additional time to that provided by the miniaturized gadget. A technique that proves vital tonight.

When he finally reaches the car, it turns out that the driver is already dead - his head at an unnatural angle - but the woman from the front seat is struggling to get the two children out from the back. She's trying to open the back door and she's so focused on the task, she doesn't notice him approaching. He moves her out of the way to wrestle with the door himself. It's stuck, badly. He sees from the corner of this eye that the women is starting to suffocate and he motions for her to swim to the surface but she refuses to move. His own vision starts getting blurred as lack of oxygen is getting to him, too. But he must save them.

He thinks he must have started hallucinating when suddenly he sees Arthur right in front of him. He's shirtless and in torn jeans, just the way he looked at the end of their first conversation before swimming away. Their gazes meet for a second and Arthur gives him a little eye-roll before he tears the car door out. He tries to communicate something to Bruce but he's too oxygen deprived to understand what the hand motions mean. Bruce still isn't sure whether it is his dying delusion, Arthur being there to help, until the man is so close he is all Bruce sees, and then there are warm lips on his, pushing his mouth open and he almost chokes on the air being shared with him.

When he comes round enough to asses the situation again, Arthur is swimming to the surface with the woman and Bruce finally realizes that the man wanted him to deal with getting the children - already unconscious, Batman realizes with horror - out of the car while he got their mother to safety.

He's cutting through the second seatbelt when Arthur is back and grabs both children to swim them out of the water. Bruce is slowly making his way to the surface, his vision swaying and limbs getting numb, when Aquaman appears before him again and takes his hand to give him a boost up.

Bruce takes a desperate breath and falls into a coughing fit once his head hits the surface of the water. Arthur is floating beside him, watching him almost worriedly. The woman and her children are on the inflatable boat, breathing, the coast guard coming their way. Once Bruce's breathing somewhat calms, Arthur says: "I'll meet you in the batcave," with the last word practically dripping with amusement, and he's gone.

ж

When Bruce exits the Batmobile in the cave, he sees that Arthur is indeed already there. The man is sitting in Bruce's chair in front of the main computer and drinking something from a steaming mug while chatting with Alfred. He's also no longer shirtless but wearing a cashmere dark blue sweater that Bruce is fairly certain was taken from one of his wardrobes upstairs.

As Bruce approaches them, Alfred gets up from where he was perched on the edge of a worktable and looks Batman over for visible injuries.

"The last van got away," he says, knowing Bruce would expect a report. "They'll get it coming another night."

Bruce lets out a hollow sigh and nods. He takes the cowl off along with the cape, throws them on the nearby table, and sits on the chair that Alfred must have brought seeing that Batman has a guest.

"Thank you for answering my call," Bruce says to Arthur. "I wasn't sure you would."

In reply, Arthur raises his mug as if in a toast and looks playfully at Bruce. There's a small amused smile on his lips and for a brief moment Bruce recalls the feel of these lips on his own - which is ridiculous because he never mused over such things, he's been a vigilante for two decades, CPR happens much too often than he'd like it to. But here he is, staring at Aquaman and thinking about… Bruce clears his throat so he doesn't scoff at himself.

"I need your help," Bruce starts and one of Arthur's brows slowly ascends. "I arranged a supply delivery to Russia, to help the people who suffered in Steppenwolf's attack. There's still some leftover alien radiation that makes air transport impossible until we are sure it won't affect planes and cause even more damage, so the supplies were to be delivered using maritime transport." Bruce can see that Arthur tensed a bit when he mentioned Steppenwolf and his expression became more serious and focused. "The transport was hijacked. We have an approximate location but the pirates are good…" Bruce admits, letting a little bit of anger to slip into his voice. "The delivery is time sensitive and we are already delayed by using ships instead of planes. I thought that maybe you could help…"

Bruce knows that his tech is good enough to pinpoint the location soon despite any signal-dispersing equipment used by the pirates, that then air support could be used to reclaim the ships as they're still on the water and not near the area polluted by radiation, that Aquaman's help will give them hours, at least, that it wouldn't be a matter of life and death. But any hour is precious and maybe, just maybe, he wanted to cooperate with someone from their makeshift team again and as this issue was connected with Steppenwolf still, he expected the call will be answered.

"Of course, give me all the info," Arthur says and Bruce feels something akin to relief. They both turn to the main computer and Bruce shows him the expected route of the ships, where the attack happened, and the scraps of data he managed to gather about the pirates themselves. Arthur is focused and seems determined as he takes it all in.

It is when Arthur is on his way out that Bruce finally makes himself say: "Thank you for your assistance back there." Alfred would be proud.

Arthur shrugs with one shoulder as a you're welcome of sorts. "I've seen this cute video of a bat swimming on the internet once," he says. "I'll send it to you, maybe you'll learn something."

Bruce isn't able to stop a little snort before he composes himself and he can't really go for the judging look now. He doesn't remember when was the last time he was so relaxed while wearing a cowl, probably when Robin was still-

He forces his lips to form a smirk that he hopes fools Arthur. "Cannot wait," he deadpans.

Arthur buys it (or pretends to) and lets out a laugh. "See you around, Bat."


End file.
